NatWest decision to close Nigel Farage’s bank accounts was lawful, says report
NatWest’s decision to close Nigel Farage’s bank accounts was lawful but there were “serious failings” in how it treated the former Ukip leader, an independent review commissioned by the bank has found.
Lawyers hired by NatWest Group said the lender had acted “in accordance with the relevant bank policies and processes” when it decided to shut the accounts Farage held at its private bank Coutts.
However, the initial report also identified “a number of shortcomings”, related to how it reached that decision, how the bank communicated with the former Ukip leader, and how it treated his confidential information.
The Financial Conduct Authority said it had reviewed the findings of the initial independent report, and said it highlighted “potential regulatory breaches” and a number of areas for improvement.
That included how the bank considers the potential closure of accounts, handles complaints from customers, and the effectiveness of its “governance mechanisms.”
The NatWest chair, Howard Davies, said: “This report sets out a number of serious failings in the treatment of Mr Farage. Although Travers Smith confirm the lawful basis for the exit decision, the findings set out clear shortcomings in how it was reached as well as failures in how we communicated with him and in relation to client confidentiality.
“We apologise once again to Mr Farage for how he has been treated. His experience fell short of the standards that any customer should expect.
“Our job now is to make sure that does not happen again. The bank is committed to implementing all the recommendations made by Travers Smith and we are making substantive changes to our policies and procedures, in particular to ensure that the lawfully protected beliefs or opinions of customers do not play any role in our decision making.”
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NatWest has yet to confirm whether it will claw back any pay from its former chief executive Alison Rose, who resigned over the matter in July. The bank expects to issue a statement on the matter when it releases the second half of its review into the scandal by the end of November.